Tonight, Theater Drachengasse premieres My Old Lady in the smaller, cozier of its two performance spaces, Bar & Co. And yes, “cozy” is the polite word for “you’re so close to the actors you can feel the air shift when a scene turns.” I photographed a rehearsal, and it was one of those rare afternoons where the camera almost becomes secondary, because the acting keeps pulling your attention away from the viewfinder.
This play isn’t a wish-fulfilment exposé, it’s more like watching three people get cornered by history and forced to stand still long enough to feel it. We witness a loaded situation, and the kind of dialogue that peels back old wounds: childhood memories that still sting, love that still burns, and the responsibilities nobody volunteered for.
And Bar & Co is the perfect container for it. In a space this small, you don’t watch people from a safe distance. You share their air. You catch the micro-delays before someone answers. You see the exact moment a smile becomes defensive, or a joke becomes a weapon. This play thrives on that proximity, because it’s ultimately about the emotional debris we inherit from our past that keeps quietly steering the present.
The cast is strong across the board, but the particular electricity in the room comes from how distinct their energies are, and how sharply they bounce off each other. Kathy Tanner is Mathilde Girard, the “old lady” of the title, which sounds like it should be a simple archetype until she steps into the scene and quietly proves she’s the one holding the true power. Bronwynn Mertz-Penzinger plays Chloé Girard, Mathilde’s daughter, fierce in her loyalty and razor-precise in how she measures people (and finds them wanting). Dave Moskin plays Mathias Gold, the down-on-his-luck heir who arrives expecting a clean win: an inherited apartment and a fresh start. Instead, he walks into a problem with a pulse, a history, and absolutely no interest in accommodating his fantasies. This production (an Austrian premiere in English) is staged by Vienna Theatre Project, directed by Joanna Godwin-Seidl.
The plot setup is deliciously cruel in the way only good theatre can be: inheritance, entitlement, and the awkward reality that property is never just property. In this Vienna Theatre Project version, Mathias arrives in Vienna to claim his late father’s “fabulous apartment” and discovers two women already living there, which turns his supposed rescue story into something far more complicated. Old secrets surface, loyalties get stress-tested, and what begins with humour keeps revealing darker strata underneath. It makes us laugh and cringe at the same time.
Vienna Theatre Project also leans into an intriguing local twist: while the original play is set in Paris, they’ve relocated the story to Vienna, inspired by the discovery that certain Viennese rental laws echo the Parisian setup. Dave Moskin, beyond performing, also adapted the script for this shift and revised historical references to fit the city’s texture, with the Horovitz family’s permission.
I loved that this play doesn’t turn the story into a tidy lesson. It’s funny, but not in an obvious way, more in quick, sideways moments: a dry line, a look that cuts, a split second when someone realizes they’ve read the situation completely wrong. It has just the kind of mix of humour and bite that appeals to me.
A quick word on Vienna Theatre Project, because it matters who tells a story. Founded in 2002, they’ve made it their mission to bring high-quality English-language theatre to Vienna, drawing on local and international professional actors, with a focus on humanity, acceptance, and diversity.
And if you don´t know My Old Lady from the theatre, you might have come across the film version. Israel Horovitz adapted his own play into a 2014 movie starring Maggie Smith as Mathilde, with Kevin Kline as Mathias and Kristin Scott Thomas as Chloé. I have yet to watch it, and having seen the play now I am very curious to see what they did with it on film.
My Old Lady premieres tonight, 9 February 2026, at 8 p.m. at Theater Drachengasse (Bar & Co). Performances run 10–21 February 2026, Tuesday to Saturday at 8 p.m.
All rehearsal photos on Viennacultgram.com are my own.
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